Tag Archives: Weather

Wildfires in California, New Mexico trigger hundreds of evacuations

Sherpa fire

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hundreds of people have evacuated to escape a wildfire in coastal Southern California and a larger blaze in rural New Mexico as hot weather feeds the flames, raising health concerns in other regions, officials said on Thursday.

Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown told a news conference his deputies had asked occupants of 400 homes and businesses to evacuate structures in areas threatened by flames from the California fire. Campers, and horses on ranches have also been forced out, officials said.

The blaze, which ignited on Wednesday in a wilderness area northwest of Santa Barbara, has consumed chaparral and tall grass in the Los Padres National Forest, blackening some 1,200 acres (490 hectares), according to tracking website InciWeb.gov.

About 500 firefighters were trying to hold it from exploding out of control as airplane tankers and helicopters dropped water, officials said.

“There isn’t a lot of marine layer (ocean humidity) so not great conditions for firefighting,” Diane Black, a joint incident command manager, said in a phone interview.

Winds drove the so-called Sherpa Fire, named after a ranch near where it started, toward the Pacific coast, leading authorities to evacuate two state beaches and some ranch land, according to information from InciWeb.gov and the Santa Barbara County website.

The blaze also approached the 101 Freeway overnight, forcing authorities to close it until Thursday morning.

In New Mexico, the so-called Dog Head Fire which broke out on Wednesday about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town of Tajique has forced evacuations and grown to more than 12,000 acres (4,900 hectares).

It has burned through timber in central New Mexico, pushing heavy smoke toward cities more than 100 miles (160 km) away as flames spread through a largely unpopulated area, fire information officer Peter D’Aquanni said in a phone interview.

Torrance County Sheriff Heath White said his office was evacuating about 200 people.

D’Aquanni said that, as more than 600 firefighters tackle the blaze, winds could shift the flames to the east.

“There’s not many structures in front of that direction if it goes where we think it’s going,” he said.

The National Weather Service has issued heat advisories for Missouri and southwest Iowa, with temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit (35 Celsius), climatologist Bryan Peake said in a phone interview.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Tropical Storm Colin hits Florida, threatens southeastern U.S.

A NASA satellite image showing the Tropical Storm Colin over Florida and the U.S. South-East coast

By Letitia Stein

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Colin lashed Florida with bands of thunderstorms, floods and 50 mile-per-hour winds as it headed through the Gulf of Mexico toward the state’s northwest coast on Monday, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency in dozens of counties.

The storm, about 165 miles (265 km) from the Florida coast as of 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), was forecast to dump as much as 8 inches (20 cm) of rain in some parts of the state. The combination of the storm surge and high tides threatened to bring flooding to coastal areas from Florida up through North Carolina, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The storm was forecast to make landfall below Florida’s panhandle late on Monday afternoon, on a track that would take it over the state and through southern Georgia and then along the Atlantic Ocean coast over South Carolina and North Carolina, the center said.High school graduations were canceled in Tampa while residents across Florida stacked sandbags to guard against floods.

Rip tides, lightening, tornado and hail posed dangers to communities far beyond Colin’s immediate path, Florida Governor Rick Scott said.

“It’s going to impact pretty much our entire state,” Scott told a news conference. His emergency order extended across 34 of the state’s 67 counties.

In the St. Petersburg beach town of Gulfport, roads were already flooded. One resident used a kayak to float down a thoroughfare past a waterfront cafe that stayed open, allowing people used to severe weather to witness the storm.

“This is a mild tempest,” said Trace Taylor, a local writer lunching on onion rings. “What’s there to be afraid of? It’s just water and it’s not that bad.”

The storm also threatened crops in Florida, the country’s biggest citrus producer, which sent U.S. orange juice futures on Monday to their highest level in more than two years.

Concerns about storm surges exacerbated by high tides prompted voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas of Franklin County, Florida, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Tallahassee.

Flooding and isolated tornadoes threatened densely populated communities from south of the Tampa Bay region through Jacksonville on the east coast, according to the National Weather Service.

Waters could rise by 1 to 3 feet (30 cm to 90 cm) along the state’s western coast from the storm surges.

Colin is part of a brisk start to the Atlantic hurricane season that runs through Nov. 30. Over the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Carolinas were lashed by heavy rain and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie.

(Additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, South Carolina; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Chris Reese and Frances Kerry)

Tornados, storms hit U.S. Great Plains, injure two in Kansas

A man fights the wind and rain during the morning commute in New York

By Suzannah Gonzales

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Two people were critically injured and buildings were damaged on Tuesday in southwest Kansas as several tornados and storms hit the U.S. Great Plains, a local official and a meteorologist said on Wednesday.

The two injured people in Ford County, Kansas were brought to a local hospital for treatment and had been released as of Wednesday morning, according to J.D. Gilbert, interim county administrator and spokesman for the county.

As many as six unconfirmed tornados hit an area west of Dodge City, Gilbert said, destroying some homes and a county building with offices and landfill equipment. Farms and ranches were also damaged, he said.

A tornado was also reported in Oklahoma, just west of Tulsa, along with severe storms in the area on Tuesday evening, said Ariel Cohen, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

There were also preliminary reports of tornados across northeast Colorado associated with storms late on Tuesday afternoon and early evening, Cohen said.

In addition, severe storms with large hail and damaging winds hit central and eastern Wyoming and as far north as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Cohen said.

There is risk of intense storms across the Great Plains on Wednesday and increased potential for severe weather heading into Thursday, Cohen said. Isolated storms, large hail and damaging winds are possible primary hazards, he said.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Meredith Mazzilli)

Better weather expected to damp down Canadian wildfire

A flock of birds fly as smoke billows from the Fort McMurray wildfires in Kinosis

By Nia Williams and Eric M. Johnson

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Firefighters battling a wildfire that has threatened oil sands facilities north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, looked to cooler weather, a change in winds and the promise of rain to help them on Thursday.

A shift in wind direction from west to east is expected to push the fire back toward areas it has already burned, limiting its growth, wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather said on Thursday.

“That should hopefully result in a little less activity than we’ve seen in the last couple of days,” he said.

The fire, which hit Fort McMurray in early May, destroying entire neighborhoods, surged north on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of 8,000 oil sand workers, destroying a work camp and prolonging a shutdown that has cut Canadian oil output by a million barrels a day.

Fairweather did not expect the fire to damage any oil sands facilities on Thursday.

The fire covered 483,084 hectares (1.2 million acres) as of Thursday morning, up some 61,000 hectares from the day before. Fairweather said cooler weather and the chance of rain on Thursday also would help contain the fire.

Some of the 90,000 evacuees who fled Fort McMurray as the massive blaze breached the city may be allowed to return as soon as June 1, officials said on Wednesday, if air quality improves and other safety conditions are met.

Some oil sands operations directly north of the city remained shuttered, although firefighters held the blaze back from Suncor Energy and Syncrude Canada facilities on Wednesday.

The fire destroyed a 665-room lodge for oil sands workers on Tuesday but officials said on Wednesday they were not aware of further industry damage.

Tuesday’s evacuations were a setback for producers, suggesting production may be suspended for longer than companies and analysts had previously anticipated.

The province’s plan to gradually allow residents back into the city offered hope but also trepidation.

“It’s exciting news but you are also scared to see what you get when you get back,” said Fort McMurray resident Ria Dickason, adding that she was concerned about smoky air.

The air quality health index, which usually stands between 1 and 10, hit 51 on Wednesday morning, before improving to 11.

“We won’t go back if it’s anything close to the levels it’s at now,” Dickason said. “My daughter has asthma so we are more alert to it.”

(Additional reporting by Allison Martell and Ethan Lou in Toronto; Editing by Bill Trott)

Severe Weather in the Central United States Through Monday Night

By Kami Klein

Severe storms are expected throughout the afternoon and night, Monday into Tuesday, heading through the central states and eastward.  This same storm system produced severe thunderstorms with tornadoes and large hail in Colorado on Saturday and has been steadily advancing eastward according to the National Weather Service.

Accuweather.com and the National Weather Service are both reporting that the storms are expected to begin in the early afternoon along a dryline from eastern Kansas into Oklahoma.  The severe weather will journey eastward into Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and eastern Texas Monday afternoon. The National Weather Service warns that the main tornado risk appears to rise considerably once the system tracks into eastern Oklahoma in the late afternoon and into Arkansas during the evening.

Because of the substantial low level vertical shear over this area there is a good potential for strong tornadoes to develop.  Intense supercells will most likely be possible as well.

Accuweather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski advises, “The storms will bring the potential for frequent lightning strikes, flash flooding and a few isolated tornadoes, along with the ongoing risks of large hail and damaging wind gusts.”

Thunderstorms will continue to push eastward late Monday night into Tuesday morning.  Although there still will be capabilities of gusty winds and flooding downpours, the severe weather systems are expected to lower in intensity.

A few strong storms could redevelop during the day on Tuesday across part of the Ohio Valley as this system slowly drifts eastward.

Please stay tuned to local forecasts and take all precautions for your safety.  Motorists should plan on checking frequently on weather reports to stay clear of active and dangerous weather.  

 

Storms and Tornadoes brewing into Wednesday

Forecast of where thunderstorms will be most likely on Tuesday.

Storms will be boiling and brewing, especially for the plains, midwest and the south starting on Tuesday. The National Weather Service is forecasting a cold front that will bring unsettled weather to the western U.S. into Tuesday with a numerous severe thunderstorms possible near portions of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday.

Significant and severe thunderstorms will be quite possible across parts of the southern and central great plains Tuesday afternoon into the nighttime hours. According to The Weather Channel’s severe storm expert, Dr. Greg Forbes, there is a substantial possibility of strong, long track tornadoes for central and east Kansas and in portions of central and eastern Oklahoma.

Some of the cities for Tuesday’s storms that will be affected are Dallas-Fort Worth, Hastings, Nebraska, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Wichita, Kansas.

Wednesday the storm system will begin moving east, triggering numerous storms from the Missouri Valley to the mid Mississippi Valley, Lower Ohio Valley, the Ozarks and northeast Texas. These areas will have the potential for severe storms, tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.

The Weather Channel and the National Weather Service are asking that you review your severe weather preparedness and stay tuned to local forecasts to track potentially dangerous weather systems.

Storms Shut Down Most of Houston

The city of Houston, Texas was largely shut down on Monday after a stalled storm system caused severe flash flooding that has schools closed, bus and rail services suspended, and government officials warning residents to stay home.

According to The Weather Channel, rainfall totals were 10-20 inches from southeast Texas to the northwest of Houston. Some places saw 3 to 4 inches of rain per hour. Authorities reported that there were at least 650 residential calls for help on Monday morning.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told CNN that there were at least 150 water rescues in Harris County alone, and he suspects there will be more rescues as the flooding gets worse.

CNN also reported as of mid-morning that at least 100,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Houston area, and over 1,000 homes in Harris County were flooded.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters that the Houston area schools were closed along with nine regional hospitals that were closed to additional patients. He added that three apartment buildings had been evacuated, and the residents were taking shelter in a mall. At this time, multiple news outlets have stated that there are no reports of injuries or deaths.

The storm system causing the severe flooding will continue pelting the south through Tuesday before the system moves northwest and weakens. The storm could still produce severe thunderstorms capable of producing hail, strong winds, and even isolated tornadoes, according to CBS News.

Other residents in Mississippi and Louisiana also saw flash flooding according to WISHTV. The Salvation Army, the United Way of Southeast Louisiana, Convoy of Hope, Mercy Chefs, and the Second Harvest Food Bank are all taking donations for the victims of the flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Oklahoma has also seen flooding according Oklahoma City station, KOCO. Approximately 7,000 acres of farmland is under water, and the Washita River is expected to crest Monday evening, bringing even more flooding.

Duo Storms Bring Potential Flooding and Snow to High Plains and Rockies

Duo storm systems over the Midwest and Rockies is likely to produce heavy rainfall capable of flooding, severe thunderstorms, and even snow.

The Weather Channel reports that the High Plains will see severe thunderstorms and even some flooding as the 4-5 day period of rain falls over the area. Some parts of the plains may even set all-time monthly records for April.

Many areas in the Plains from South Dakota to Texas could see at least 3 inches of rainfall through Tuesday evening. Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas could see around 5-8 inches of rain over the next few days.

Additionally, this storm could produce severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging winds, and possibly tornadoes.

And if that weren’t enough, the High Plains may also see snow as Winter Storm Vexo hits the Rockies this weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for parts of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. So far, The Weather Channel has reported that Nebraska and South Dakota will be the only states in the High Plains to possibly see snow.

Winter Storm Vexo will also bring strong winds that could reach gusting speeds of 30-50 mph and may cause power outages throughout the Rockies and High Plains.

Blizzard watch issued ahead of ‘potentially paralyzing’ snowstorm

The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued its first watches for a winter storm that could wreak havoc on the northeastern United States this weekend.

The blizzard watch includes the cities of Baltimore and Washington and surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia. It will formally go into effect on Friday afternoon and remain valid through Saturday night, the service said.

The National Weather Service said it’s “monitoring the possibility” that a storm could drop 1 to 2 feet of snow along the I-95 corridor this Friday and Saturday.

The stretch includes other major cities like Philadelphia, Boston and New York, though no watches for those areas had been issued as of mid-day Wednesday.

The service’s Weather Prediction Center warned of a “potentially paralyzing winter storm for portions of the Mid-Atlantic,” including possible blizzard conditions in Baltimore and Washington, and said more than a half-inch of ice was possible in Kentucky and North Carolina. Coastal flooding was also possible.

The blizzard watch cautions that the area could receive more than a foot of snow, with a wintry mix possible on Friday night. The storm is also expected to bring 40 mph wind gusts, which could lead to whiteouts and power outages.

“Heavy snow and blowing snow will cause dangerous conditions and will be a threat to life and property,” the watch states. “Travel is expected to be severely limited if not impossible during the height of the storm Friday night and Saturday.”

The blizzard watch encourages people to stock up on necessary items.

The service also issued less-severe winter storm watches for portions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, though still warned that a foot of snow was possible in some areas and said blowing snow could pose travel hazards.

The Weather Channel is calling the potential storm Winter Storm Jonas.

The threat came as another winter storm was moving across the country.

National Weather Service radar showed precipitation falling throughout the south, and winter weather advisories or winter storm warnings were in effect for portions of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas.

On Tuesday, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 15 counties affected by winter weather.

Two killed as tornadoes sweep through Florida

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – Two grandparents were killed and four children injured in Florida early on Sunday when severe storms gusted in from the Gulf of Mexico, spinning off at least two tornadoes, local officials and the National Weather Service said.

Steven Wilson, 58, died when a twister destroyed a mobile home with seven people inside in Duette, Florida, about an hour south of Tampa, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said.

Kelli Wilson, 51, escaped with their son and grandchildren. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital, said Dave Bristow, a spokesman for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

She suffered a heart attack, the Bradenton Herald reported.

The four grandchildren – two boys and two girls between the ages of six and 10 – were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.

One of the children was severely injured, the National Weather Service’s Tampa office reported, confirming that a strong tornado blasting winds up to 127 miles per hour had touched down in the area around 3:30 a.m. ET.

Another tornado was reported further south on Florida’s west coast in Siesta Key, according to the weather service.

The storms dumped heavy rains and blasted strong winds across the state’s central Gulf Coast, but conditions were improving during the day on Sunday.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Ros Russell and Alan Crosby)